


Teamwork Makes the Thomas More Emotionally Stable

by Smolest_bean



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Explicit Language, Violence, basically all the warnings from the Intrusive Thoughts Video, idk what else to put here, if I should tag anything else please let me know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-06-24 14:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19725715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smolest_bean/pseuds/Smolest_bean
Summary: In an au where Thomas never directly spoke with his sides, and Accepting Anxiety never happened. Thomas reaches a breaking point, so he begins seeing a therapist. His therapist’s advice causes his sides to change their living situations in an attempt to help Thomas.





	1. Chapter 1

Logan rose up in the Dark Sides’ common room. It had taken quite a bit of convincing to get both Patton and Roman to listen to him on this. While they both wanted what was best for Thomas, they both also had their prejudices towards the dark sides. Patton saw them as “bad” parts of Thomas, things that needed to be suppressed and forgotten about. Roman, on the other hand, saw them as villains that needed to be kept at bay, he didn’t accept that they could even be part of Thomas. 

So maybe ‘a bit of convincing’ was an understatement. Either way, Logan eventually got them to at least humor him on this, so there he was, in the dark part of Thomas’ mind, there to retrieve the sides who resided there. 

After regaining his bearings, Logan began to take in his surroundings, and finally noticed both The Duke and Deceit standing in the kitchen, Deceit drinking from a large mug of tea, as The Duke excitedly chatterd about something.

“AND THEN all of the corpses EXPLODED” Remus exclaimed while making exploding gestures with his hands.

“What a riveting dream, Remus.” Deceit commented, seeming uninterested and tired.

Logan cleared his throat to make his presence known as he entered the kitchen.

“Hello Logic, what are you doing here at...” Deceit glanced at the clock on the microwave, “10:03 in the morning?”

“Well, as I hope you are both already aware, Thomas has begun seeing a therapist due to his recent drop in productivity and spike in depression.”

“Yes, we are aware.”

“Well, Doctor Picani has specifically begun working with Thomas to try to limit his judging himself in the black and white, either entirely ‘good’ or entirely ‘bad’. That is why I came here today: I am here to bring you to the light side of Thomas’ mind.”

After a beat of silence, The Duke looked pointedly at Logan. “I thought it was better for Thomas if we stayed here.”

“Morality’s decision to move you all here was... well intentioned, but in the end, more harmful to Thomas than it was helpful. It is imperative that you come back to living with us, at least for a short amount of time, so we can at least see if you staying there has any positive effect on Thomas.”

“What if we don’t?”

“You must understand, this is not merely a change of heart from The Prince or Morality, but a recommendation from Thomas’ therapist. We are requesting you live with us in order to help Thomas.”

“... fine”

“Do we have tooooo?” Remus whined, though it seemed more for show than anything.

“If it’s for the betterment of Thomas, then yes, we haaaaveeee toooooo” Deceit teased back.

Remus stuck his tongue out at Deceit, then responded “Okay, I GUESS if we’re really doing this I should go wake V- MPH“ Remus’ hand held over his mouth before he could finish saying the name.

Deceit, hand still held in a fist from using his power, stared at The Duke with adrenaline and alarm clear on his face. As he released the first and regulated his expression, The Duke’s hand was slowly lowered.

The room was painfully silent as it sunk in to Remus and Deceit what Remus has almost done, and as Logan was piecing together theories of whatever that just was (none were spot on, but some were very close to the truth of the situation). Needless to say, the room was tense. 

Before any of the sides were able to collect themselves enough to cut through the almost palpable uneasiness in the room, that same uneasiness seemed to have woken the third side Logan had been looking for.

In the entry way to the kitchen stood a figure who seemed to have just woken up. His eyes had heavy bags under them, barely visible through a thicker-than-usual layer of eyeshadow, his black hoodie was unzipped, seemingly hastily put on, showing a dark grey sleep shirt underneath, and to complete the look he was wearing baggy pajama pants and a pair of fluffy slippers. 

“I can’t leave you two unsupervised for five minutes without you starting some sort of headache, can I?” Anxiety tiredly grumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This the first fic I’ve ever written! I have no clue what I’m doing and I doubt this is going to update regularly, if at all, so I guess leave a kudos if I should write another chapter? Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

“Anxiety!!! We were just talking about you!!!”

Remus exclaimed as he moved to hug the grumpy side. He paused, waiting for Virgil to signal if he was okay with touch or not. Virgil nodded, indicating _yeah, you can hug me,_ and Remus practically tackled him in a huge bear hug.

“Good morning, Rem.” He sighed, resigned to his fate.

With Remus still functionally attaches to him, Virgil turned to the other two sides in the room and gestured to Logic.

“And why is **he** here?”

“Logic has come to tell us that we will be moving back to the ‘light side’ of Thomas’ mind.” Deceit explained.

“What.”

“I know it is sudden, but I believe it’s best if we act as quickly as possible. Time we spend delaying this is time Thomas isn’t healing.” Logic said.

“Okay. What if I refuse?”

“While I cannot force you to come stay with us, and I can tell you that this is merely an experiment. If you do, however, choose to go along with this trial, you will be able to opt out whenever you want. Your moving there may not prove beneficial to Thomas, and in that case you will return to living here, as if it had never happened.”

After a moment where Virgil appeared to contemplate what that meant for him and the others, he spoke. “I’ll come with, but if _anything_ happens to make me even _suspect_ this is hurting Thomas, I’m bailing.”

Logic almost seemed surprised at the response, as if he hadn’t been expecting Anxiety to cooperate like that.

“Oh. Well, shall we get going then? Morality and The Prince are expecting us to return soon, they even elected to make a late breakfast for us all to share as a figurative olive branch.”

“I’m gonna need some caffeine in my system before I can deal with those two.” Anxiety muttered.

Remus, after finally letting go of the side, offered to make him a cup of tea.

“Remus, I’m sorry, but you’re _the worst_ at making tea.”

“Eh, that’s fair.”

Then, at the same time, both of them turned to Deceit.

“No, you may not have mine.”

They didn’t waver.

“I made this for myself, and I am going to be the one to drink it.”

Remus began to, what he thought was subtly, move to snatch the mug from Deceit.

Deceit pulled the mug closer to himself. “Make your own tea.”

...

“Fine! Just take it!” He huffed and handed the tea to Virgil, who fist bumped Remus after he received the tea.

“Thanks Dee!”

“Whatever.” Deceit said with an eye roll as all four sides began to sink out, making the short trip to the light side.

—————

When Virgil appeared, he first noticed how different the light side was compared to where he lived. Of all the dark sides, he avoided this part of the mind the most. He knew that he was damaging to Thomas, so he tried his best to just stay out of the way so he wouldn’t cause more problems. ~~Also, the light sides were Intimidating, but they didn’t need to know that.~~

Everything was much more vibrant and colorful than the dark side. It was also warmer. It was nice, but also different. And different was scary.

He noticed Morality at the same time as the side had spotted the new arrivals. Virgil saw, for a brief moment, a look of disappointment on his face, as if he had been hoping they wouldn’t agree to come with Logic. But it was quickly covered up with a bright smile.

“Oh! They actually came! Yay!” His bubbly optimism almost seemed forced. “Well, I’m glad I made so many pancakes!!!”

From the barely suppressed frustration on Deceit’s face, he didn’t seem too happy with the situation either.

“Should we...?” Virgil asked quietly, so only the sides standing near him could hear.

Remus sent him a look, then practically leapt into the kitchen and moved to start filling a plate with pancakes. Roman, who had been getting his own pancakes, shrieked at the sudden appearance of his brother. Based on his reaction, it was safe to assume he hadn’t noticed the sides show up.

Remus was undeterred by Roman’s reaction, and shoved his brother out of the way so he could reach the stack of breakfast food.

“Hey! I wasn’t done!” Roman’s face was about as close as a face could get to looking like >:(

“that’s what he said” Remus muttered, to no one in particular. He then redirected his attention to Roman. “Too bad! I wanted pancakes!”

“But I was here first!”

“But! Consider! I wanted pancakes.”

“Ugh, I knew it was a bad idea to have you come here.” Roman muttered.

Remus looked hurt by that statement, but then he covered it up with a demented smile and summoned the Morningstar. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to fight for them!” He exclaimed in a singsongy voice.

At which point Roman summoned his katana and grinned. “Oh, it’s on bro.”

Before a fight was able to break out in the kitchen, Virgil, Deceit, Logan, and Patton all rushed forward to hold back their respective creative side.

After all weapons were put away, everyone else grabbed their own pancakes and made their way to the dining table. At the dining table there was an array of toppings for pancakes. There were various fruits, berries, syrups, and even some cans of whipped cream.

Virgil chose to put a small amount of whipped cream with a few blueberries on his breakfast, and Deceit simply put plain maple syrup on his. Remus appeared to be scanning the toppings for the one he wanted, which Virgil and Deceit were certain would not be among the available toppings.

After the light sides had grabbed their toppings of choice and began eating, Remus gave up on the search and elected to summon it himself.

He proceeded to summon a bottle of motor oil and pour a generous amount on his pancakes.

The other dark sides were barely phased, they had lived with Remus for years and were used to this kind of behavior at this point. The light sides however...

“Wh- WHY??” Roman practically screeched.

The other lights look equally confused and horrified.

“‘Cause it’s good! Try some!” Remus said as he gleefully waved a fork full of the monstrosity in Roman’s face.

“I WILL NOT!!!” Virgil and Deceit snickered at The Prince’s suffering.

“But it tastes good...” Remus pouted, as he brought the forkful away from Roman’s face and shoved it into his own mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two is here!!! Thank you to everyone who left a kudos and/or commented!!! It’s really cool that you are enjoying the story! I still don’t think I’ll be able to promise a solid upload schedule, but I’ll try to upload at least a chapter every two weeks!


	3. Chapter 3

The remainder of breakfast was just as peaceful as the beginning had been. Which was to say not at all. A few arguments even escalated to screaming matches, most (ie: all) of which involved either Roman or Remus. Anxiety didn’t contribute much to the conversation, but what he did always managed to get on Roman’s nerves. Deceit was trying not snap whenever any of Patton’s comments got a little _too_ close to condescending, and Logan was doing his best to mediate arguments and keep things civil.

In short, breakfast was a disaster.

After everyone had finished eating and were getting ready to go back to doing their own things, Anxiety brought up a question he had been stressing over for the majority of the meal. “Where are we going to be staying?”

“Uh, here? That’s what Lo said you’re supposed to do, right?” Patton responded with a confused look on his face.

“No, I mean, like, our rooms. They’re in the dark side, so where are we going to sleep?” He was trying to cover his growing panic, and keep it from leaking into his voice. Remus and Deceit noticed, and luckily Remus had just had the best idea.

“We can have a SLEEPOVER!!!” He exclaimed with a huge grin on his face. “Roman and I share a room, so my room’s on this side! You two can stay with me!”

“What! No! I already have to share a room with _you_ , I will _not_ tolerate Mister Doom and Gloom and Snake Face as well!”

“While it is not... ideal. That does seem to be the best solution for now.”

“So you’re on their side now, Logan?!”

“No, Roman, but unless you have a better idea, they will have to room with someone. Besides, it will only be temporary, as after some time of them living on this side their rooms should move here on their own.”

“Well, why don’t they stay with _you_ then?!”

As the argument escalated, Anxiety appeared to get even more, you guessed it, anxious. Patton seemed exasperated, but used to the arguing.

“While I would be fine with them staying in my room, I believe they would be most comfortable staying with someone they know and trust, and not someone who is an acquaintance at best.”

“Bold of your to assume they trust me.” Remus remarked.

“ _Ugh, **fine**_. I _guess_ they can stay with me. But only until their rooms show up!”

“Yes!!!” Remus fist pumped. “Sleepover!!!”

Roman still looked very unhappy with the prospect of two more dark sides rooming with him.

“It’s okay kiddo! Tonight’s family game night anyway, so you’ll be hanging out with Logan and I for most of the night!”

“Unless they wish to join us, as we agreed to invite them.” Logan sent Patton a pointed look.

“Uh, yeah! Right, sorry Lo, I guess I forgot!” Truthfully, Patton had been hoping Logan wouldn’t have brought it up again, he didn’t want the bad sides to take over family game night too.

“As... flattering... as that offer is, we still need to pack our things, since we will be living here for the foreseeable future.”

“And we were planning a movie night tonight.” Anxiety added.

“Yes, as long as long as you both still want to?” Deceit questioned, meaning / _if you don’t feel up to having a movie night after the day we had today, we can always reschedule_.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Virgil responded, because he really just needed some time to be with his family for a bit, and a movie night sounded perfect for that.

“Sleepover and movie night! Yes!” Remus was Very Excited about that plan.

After that, Deceit, Remus, and Virgil, for possibly the last time, returned to the dark side to pack their things.

——-

They had decided that while Virgil and Deceit packed and moved things from their rooms, Remus was in charge of moving things from the common rooms. That meant he was to move blankets, pictures, food, basically anything that they would like to have with them or that couldn't be left behind.

This meant Remus, being tied with Virgil for Most Sentimental Dark Side™, had a lot of things to fit into a single room. Picking what to keep and what to leave had been difficult for him.

For example: the fridge. He so badly wanted to just leave all the perishables in the fridge after they moved out, wanting to let them rot and grow mold and who _knows_ what else! In the end he decided to just move the perishable food to the light sides’ fridge, because he knew Deceit wouldn’t want to have to clean the fridge of the horrors that would form within, and Virgil wouldn’t like the idea of wasting food.

He also had to move the many blankets they owned. The dark side was usually cold, and that didn’t pair well with Deceit’s issues with regulating his body temperature (because he was part snake). So: blankets. He eventually decided on making a blanket-nest-thing on his bed and calling it a day.

Around halfway through packing they took a break to have a late lunch/early dinner (their meals for the day were off due to the late breakfast they had had that morning). After eating a simple meal of ramen noodle cups, the only food left in the closet after Remus moved everything, they all got back to work.

By the time they were done packing and moving everything, the light sides had already eaten dinner and begun game night. That meant Roman wouldn’t be around to bother them for most of the night, so they were able to have movie night in peace.

The room itself was larger than the other sides' rooms, probably because it had to house two people. It was very clearly split down the middle by a strip of tape, like they were in a sitcom. One half was filled with color and light and had a very innocent-disney-movie kind of vibe to it. It was cluttered with notes, sketches, and even a few handwritten stories. The other half, though, was almost the opposite. While it was just as cluttered as the Prince's side, the contents were far more disturbing. Sketches filled with death and blood and gore. It was clearly the Duke's side.

And right in the middle, on top of the ridiculous line of tape, was a bunk bed that the twins shared. The top bunk being Roman's, and the bottom bunk was Remus'.

Since Remus and Roman shared a bunk bed, figuring out how everyone would fit seemed like it would have been a challenge. However, the blanket nest Remus had constructed as a means of keeping all their blankets on hand worked as a pretty good solution, instead of trying to sleep like normal people (ie: head on one end, feet on the other, using a single blanket and pillow) they would all just form an unceremonious cuddle pile and sleep like that. It wasn’t like it would be the first time.

Getting ready for bed also proved to be more of a challenge than normal, though. They were all sharing the twins’ bathroom, so they had to take turns when getting ready for bed. While Virgil was brushing his teeth and washing up, Deceit was given the job of making sure Remus cleaned himself up.

As usual, Remus refused to cooperate.

“But I don’t need to shower!”

Deceit sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “No, Remus, you do need to shower. It’s been over a week since you last showered and if you want movie night to remain a possibility you need to be clean.”

“What?! You can’t cancel movie night! Also, I don’t think I’ve ever been clean in my life, in any sense of the word!”

Virgil made his way out of the bathroom, eyeshadow gone and wearing pajamas, ready for movie night. He sent Deceit a look of pity.

“Of course I can’t, that’s obviously why I just threatened to do so. Now, honey, you need to shower.”

With that, Remus grumbled and sadly made his way to the bathroom.

“Good. And **please** use soap!” Deceit called after Remus as the side was shutting the bathroom door behind himself.

“No promises!” Came a shout from inside the bathroom. At this point, Deceit was willing to take what he could get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3! Im not super happy with how this chapter turned out, but I’m excited for the next one! Sorry this chapter took so long, I’m hoping to get the next one out sooner. Also! Comments! I read and appreciate all of them!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and leave comments on my writing, it means a lot!!! :D


	4. Chapter 4

Movie night was a complete success. The three of them wore pajamas, ate popcorn, and took turns picking movies. No one was really sure how long they had stayed up, but at some point Roman entered the room to go to bed.

Due to the lights being off, Roman wasn’t able to clearly see where he was walking. In a room as cluttered as that one was, it was no surprise he tripped over something. The fall was loud and dramatic.

Deceit rolled his eyes as Vigil snickered and just Remus straight up _cackled_.

Roman took a minute to collect himself, then made his way to his bunk so he could just _go to bed_.

It took both Virgil and Deceit to get Remus to calm down enough so they could resume watching the movie.

A few hours later, Deceit fell asleep half way through a movie (because he’s the only one of the three of them who even attempts to keep a healthy sleep schedule), and Virgil and Remus decided it would be best to go to sleep after they finished the movie.

——-

Deceit found himself standing in a large grassy field under a sunny sky. A Disney-like castle could be seen a short distance away from him.

That didn’t make any since. He was sure he remembered falling asleep while watching Coraline with Virgil and Remus. So he was rightfully confused about where he was and how he got there.

Then he heard an ear splitting roar and noticed two things at once:

1\. Remus and Virgil were in the field with him (at least he wasn’t alone???).

2\. There was a giant angry dragon breathing fire and barreling towards them from across the clearing.

Before it got close enough to do any harm, though, the dragon disappeared in dramatic cloud of smoke and sparkles, and behind it was Roman. He was holding his katana and a shield, and he looked like he had been fighting the dragon-thing before it disappeared.

The prince groaned in annoyance while walking towards them.

“Uuuuggghhh, why did you all have to show up?! The battle was just getting good!”

“That’s kinda how our room works, Roman!”

“Hold up, where are we???” Virgil looked panicked, he didn’t like being unaware of where he was and what was happening.

“Welcome to the imagination! I’ve told you guys about this place before. Roman and I can visit it any time, ‘cause it’s our realm, but sometimes people show up here when they fall asleep in our room!”

“I suppose you have told us about it here, I guess I just didn’t picture it... like this.” Deceit did remember being told about the things Remus got up to in the imagination, though this place looked more like it belonged in a Disney movie than any of the things Remus had described to him.

“Oh! That’s because this is _Roman’s_ kingdom, mine’s over there!” Remus pointed to a forest a little ways behind them, then he gasped, “Oh my god, I can show you both my part of the imagination now!!!”

Seeing how excited Remus was, Deceit and Virgil agreed to let him show them around his kingdom.

“Well then, I suppose I must join you! I don’t trust all of you being here together without supervision.”

“Then lets go!” And Remus took off towards a stretch of woods in the distance.

The forest itself looked like something Remus would make more than anything else around them had. It’s trees looked lifeless, without leaves and withering. The sky above was full of raging storm clouds that didn’t look like they would be leaving any time soon. Despite the rain, though, a large portion of the forest looked to be on fire, and upon closer inspection it could be seen that the fire wasn’t spreading to the not-on-fire trees. All the rain also left the ground muddy and hard to walk though, and prevented any footprints from lasting long.

None of that deterred Remus, though, and Deceit struggled to keep up with him That is, until the creative side reached the edge of the woods and came to a very abrupt stop. That may or may not have caused Deceit to stop too late and run straight into Remus, causing them both to fall. They both also may or may not have ended up absolutely covered in mud.

Once they collected themselves, Deceit trying in vain to wipe some of the mud off of himself, they noticed that they were missing a significant portion of their group.

“It appears we lost Virgil and Roman.”

Remus spun around in a circle, looking for the aforementioned Sides, to see that Deceit was right and they were nowhere to be found.

“Oh, oops. They’ll be fine though, Roman knows how to get here!”

———-

When Virgil noticed he had fallen behind and lost Remus he tried not to panic. Sure, he was lost in a terrifying forest that looked like it had come straight out of a horror movie, but he was in Remus’ realm-thing, and Remus would never hurt Virgil. This was fine.

The footsteps heard quickly approaching from behind him were less fine. In a forest that must have been full or horrifying creatures that only Remus was able to think up, it really could have been anything. And he was alone, with no one to help him if anything happened. Nothing he could do about that though, so he might as well see what the thing was before it killed him in some brutal, bloody, and/or extremely painful way. He slowed to a walk, steeled his nerves, and turned to see what was following him.

Only to see a drenched Princy trying to catch up to him. He wasn’t sure if he would rather it _had_ been some terrifying monster.

The prince slowed down to match pace with Virgil as soon as he caught up, then took a minute trying to catch his breath.

After he regained the ability to breathe like a normal person, Roman realized that Remus and Deceit were nowhere to be seen, so Anxiety must have been lost. Well, it was a good thing that Roman was there, then!

“Not to fear, Emo Nightmare, I know you must have been lost, but I know where Remus and Deceit were going and can take you there!”

“Oh yeah, and I should trust _**you**_.“ Virgil knew he didn’t really have any other options, but that didn’t mean he was happy about needing to rely on Roman. He did, however, find it amusing that his response resulted in Roman making, what Virgil could only describe as, offended Princy noises.

“Of course you can trust me! I may dislike you, but I am still a prince. I couldn’t just leave you here while you obviously don’t know where you’re going!”

“I guess...” And they were off! On a journey to Remus’ castle! It was really awkward!

Neither if them trusted the other, and on top of that, even though Virgil knew Remus wouldn’t let anything in his kingdom hurt him, it didn’t stop him from panicking every time something moved. Roman was also thoroughly freaked out. He decided to ignore that, though, in favor of asking Anxiety something he had been wondering ever since Remus had been sent to live with the Dark Sides.

“How... how can you live with him?”

“Wha- with who?”

“Remus! He creates things like this!” He gestured all around them, “How can you have lived with him for so long and still treat him like- like a normal person?”

“He’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad!? He created this nightmare of a realm, and the things he thinks of! Those kinds of ideas aren’t okay! They’re sick!”

“Look dude, I get where you’re coming from. I used to feel that way about him too.”

“Really...?” Despite his animosity towards Anxiety, Roman was genuinely invested in the conversation.

“I mean, yeah. I actually used to be afraid of him. I thought his existence meant something bad for Thomas. I thought he was some kind of terrible illness that made Thomas a bad person.”

“But?”

“But over time I realized that it’s just thoughts, he doesn’t really hurt Thomas.”

“Doesn’t he, though? As you said, the things he creates can’t be good for Thomas.”

“Yeah, but like, it’s not like Thomas has ever acted on any of the thoughts. They’re just thoughts. He really doesn’t want to hurt anybody anyway, he can just seem scary sometimes.”

And after a few moments of silence, where Roman seemed to be deep in thought, contemplating what Virgil had just told him, Virgil decided then would be the best opportunity to tell him something else.

“You know, he really does care about you.”

“What?”

“Remus, I cant see why, but he misses being close with you, and he talks about when you both were little all the time. He misses being your brother.”

“Oh.”

The rest of the walk was spent in not-really-comfortable-but-also-not-super-uncomfortable silence. And soon enough they reached the edge of the woods and spotted Remus and Deceit.

They were standing next to a pile of corpses in a crater, Remus was showing it off to Deceit like a child would show their parent a drawing they had made. And Deceit responded like a parent who knew the drawing wasn’t good, but still supported their kid.

Shortly beyond the crater and the two sides near it was a huge tower. The tower had broken windows, a moat that was just _filled_ with wriggling tentacles, and parts of the tower itself appeared to be on fire.

At that point Remus noticed the new arrivals. He turned to the two of them, sent them a huge grin, and shouted, “Took you long enough!!! Come on! I need to show you the view of the forest from my tower!!!”

Once the two caught up, Remus led Virgil, Roman, and Deceit to the entrance of the castle. (Slow enough so everyone could easily keep up this time)

He lead them in, through twists and turns, narrow hallways and passages through walls, past room full of weapons and blood and other disturbing things. Once they all reached the very top of the tower Remus ran ahead of the others, towards the edge of the roof that looked over the forest below.

And, practically shaking with pure glee, he pointed to the forest, where they could now see the on-fire part formed a simple, intentional shape. Remus had clearly worked hard on the masterpiece drawn with fire and trees.

“It’s shaped like a penis!!!” Remus exclaimed with a huge grin on his face, looking very proud of himself and his masterpiece.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4! I’m actually kind of happy with how this one turned out! Also, school is starting for me again tomorrow, I don’t think it’ll affect updates, but it still might so this is just a warning that that might happen, I guess!


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Deceit, as usual, was the first to wake up. And, as usual, it was his job to make breakfast for the others. That he was no longer living in the dark side didn’t matter. He’d just make enough for everyone.

Though, making breakfast did require one to get out of bed first. After a few minutes of trying to detach Remus and Virgil from himself without waking them, as they had all fallen asleep in a cuddle pile, he successfully got out of bed and got ready. He blearily brushed his teeth and changed out of his pajamas and into his regular outfit, hat, cape, and all. He was only fully woken up at the scream he heard as soon as he exited the bathroom.

A quick glance in their direction showed that the piercing noise woke Virgil and Remus as well.

“ **_Why is there a spider in my room?!?!”_ **

At the exclamation Virgil bolted out of bed, faster than anyone who wasn’t the embodiment of fight or flight could have, and in an instant was standing between Roman (the one who had screamed) and the terrarium placed on Remus’ dresser (the reason Roman had screamed).

_“If you even_ **_think_ ** _about hurting her you’re going to_ **_regret it_ ** _.”_

Aaand Virgil was threatening Roman first thing in the morning. With his tempest tongue. The day was off to a great start. Remus, still not totally conscious, was just looking back and forth between Roman’s look of tired confusion and Virgil’s pointed anger.

“But why is it in my _room_!”

“Well, I couldn’t just leave her alone in my room for who _knows_ how long! Also! She isn’t an it, her name is Charlotte. Use it.”

Roman huffed, “I suppose it- I mean she, sorry- can stay here until you’re room shows up.” It seemed the adrenaline had worn off and Roman was steadily calming down, “Though, I would suggest not letting Patton see her, he is deathly afraid of spiders.”

What Roman has intended to mean ‘ _if Patton sees your spider he’s probably going to get really scared’_ , Virgil took as ‘ _if Morality finds out you have a spider he’s going to take her away from you’_. It took him a moment more of glaring at the prince for Virgil to feel okay abandoning his self appointed position of human shield.

After he was sure the small commotion was over, Deceit decided to speak up.

“That certainly is a way to start the day. I _won’t_ be heading to the kitchen to make breakfast, so if you and Remus could _not_ get yourselves dressed and such that _wouldn’t_ be much appreciated.”

Without waiting for a response he sunk out. 

“Why was he speaking like that?” Roman said after a moment, wondering why the deceptive side had chosen then of all times to be speaking in lies.

“When Deedee’s feeling drained” no one was happy with the inflection Remus put on that word “he says the opposite of what he means!” Remus shouted, muffled, from under a mound of blankets he had apparently buried himself under during the argument.

“Yeah, it gets harder for him to translate from lies to truths in his head, so he just speaks in lies when he’s tired.”

“Oh… well, alright.” Roman didn’t look like he knew what to say to that, so to avoid the awkward silence that was surely to come, Virgil announced that he’d get ready first. He speed-walked to the bathroom and shut and locked the door behind him.

——-

Deceit appeared in an empty kitchen, he was the first one up, apparently.

That, at least, gave him some time to himself while he cooked. He decided on making scrambled eggs and bacon with some vegan sausages for breakfast, along with some tea. Hopefully enough so he wouldn’t need to forfeit his own cup to Virgil today, and a hot drink for Remus (so the side wouldn’t feel left out). 

Everything was going well, the bacon and sausages were already cooked, plated, and ready to be eaten, and the tea was almost finished brewing, when Morality rose up in the kitchen.

He was wearing his usual polo and khakis, except instead of wearing his cat hoodie over his shoulders, he had put it on with the hood over his head. When he noticed Deceit he didn’t bother to hide his surprise and disdain that the side was already awake.

“Oh! Good morning Deceit…”

Deceit didn’t want to talk to Morality if he could avoid it, so he responded with a hum.

“Are you making breakfast for everyone?” The surprise was clear in his tone. So much for avoiding conversation.

“No, Morality, I plan on eating this all by myself.” He said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I would not suggest eating that much food, it would almost definitely make you sick.” Logic said as he rose up, joining the other two in the kitchen.

“I _wasn’t_ being sarcastic.”

“Oh.” Logan pauses, feeling embarrassed at his mistake, “My apologies, then.”

“Wh- There is _definitely_ a need for you to apologize, and I _won’t_ make an effort to clarify when I’m being sarcastic in the future.”

Logan was clearly surprised by the response, and said a quick thank you before taking a seat at the dining table, Patton following suit.

———

Virgil didn’t take much time to get ready, he quickly brushed his teeth, threw a hoodie over his sleep-shirt, changed into some jeans, and called it there. Just because he couldn’t wear his pajamas around the commons didn’t mean he had to put any effort into his appearance before the morning was over.

Remus, the next to get ready, was the polar opposite. The creative side spent what felt like hours in there getting ready, mostly due to his complicated outfit. By the time he left the bathroom he found Virgil sitting within a blanket nest, appearing to be falling back asleep, and Roman sitting on the floor near the bunk bed, doing something on his phone. 

He got Virgil’s attention and waved the eyeshadow palette he was holding with reckless abandon so Virge would see.

“Makeup time!!!” He then hopped on the bed, and in one surprisingly smooth motion he turned so he was facing the emo and sat criss-cross-applesauce while still holding the makeup pallet.

“Pfft, Okay. Wanna do my eyeshadow first?”

“Yes!”

And as they did that, Roman left for the bathroom to get changed. It took him nearly as long as it had taken his brother to get ready, he had to always be looking his best after all. When he entered his room once more he found Virgil had already begun Remus’ eyeshadow, and seemed to almost be done.

“I need you to hold still so I don’t mess up, ya dork.” Remus has been jumping around and moving the whole time, which was fine when he was doing Virgil's makeup, because the angsty side trusted Remus to not mess up. Anxiety did not, however, trust himself to put makeup on a moving target.

“Can do!” And after saying those words Remus went eerily rigid. He didn’t move. He didn’t fidget. As far as Virgil could tell he had stopped breathing. 

“You know I didn’t mean _that_ still, Rem.” 

Remus grinned, but otherwise didn’t move a muscle.

Virgil sighed, “Okay, just don’t hurt yourself.”

Remus gave a thumbs up.

“Is he- nevermind, are you two almost done?”

“Patience, Princy, we’re almost ready.”

Remus suddenly gasped, filling his lungs with the air they had been screaming for. The other two sides jumped at the sudden movement.

“Yeah, Roman, I’m a duke! I gotta look my best!”

“ **_Dude_ **you can’t do that. I almost poked your eye out!”

“But you didn’t! Besides, it’s not like I haven’t had my eye poked out before!”

Virgil just sighed again and finished up the makeup.

“Okay, it doesn’t look great but it’s done.”

Remus looked in the camera app on his phone to judge how his makeup _actually_ looked, and immediately exclaimed, “It looks amazing! You did a fantastic job, little emo.” He said in such a sincere tone, one that Roman hadn’t heard out of his brother in a long time.

Virgil shied away from the compliment, “Whatever, lets just go get breakfast.”

“Yes! I’m starving!” At that, Remus lifted Virgil up bridal style with ease, and conjured a tentacle arm to grab Roman’s hand with, and sunk out, bringing them both with him to the kitchen.

Roman wobbled, not used to appearing instead of rising up. Patton and Logan, not used to others just appearing out of nowhere, jumped at the three sides’ sudden arrival.

Roman didn’t miss the look of disappointment on Patton’s face at the prince arriving alongside the two dark sides. After Remus released his hand Roman walked over to sit at the table, feeling slightly ashamed.

“We are here for food!!!” Remus loudly announced, and, still holding Virgil, scrambled to get to Deceit as fast as possible.

“And caffeine.” Virgil said, and after being put down he moved to steal Deceit’s tea. _Again_.

Deceit, seeing his drink about to be stolen again, blurted out, “Nope! I made enough tea for everyone! You cannot steal mine again!” 

Virgil looked him dead in the eye, and with a deadpan expression that could strike fear into the hearts of gods he grabbed the mug and downed it in one gulp. Then, with a smug look on his face, he placed the cup in the sink and hopped up on the counter, sitting across from Deceit. Deceit pinched his knows frustratedly and opened the cabinet to grab another mug. 

“Does anyone else want a cup, since mine has been so unjustifiably stolen?”

“I would enjoy a cup of tea, if you don’t mind?”

“Not at all, Logic. Anyone else?”

“I want one!” Remus and Deceit both knew Remus didn’t really want one. He didn’t like tea. He was, however, feeling left out as everyone else was getting a drink.

“You can’t have caffeine,and besides, you don’t even like tea.”

“But I want some!”

“You cannot have the tea, but I made you your own drink, if you want it?” Deceit handed the side the drink he had made for him, and it was clear by the look on his face that Remus felt much better being included. Especially after he had taken a sip.

“IT'S HOT CHOCOLATE!!!” He exclaimed, with a huge smile on his face, and he hopped onto the counter next to Virgil. 

After all that was settled, Deceit finished making breakfast. He informed everyone, the light sides got their own plates, and Deceit prepared plates for Remus and Virgil, as well as himself. Once everyone’s plates were fixed Deceit handed them to Virgil and Remus, respectively, and hopped up to sit on the counter on Virgil’s other side. 

When Patton questioned why they weren’t all sitting at the table, Virgil muttered something about being too anxious for chairs and the other two nodded solemnly, as if what he had said held some sort of deep meaning. (it did not, they were just messing with the light sides)

Remus used his still-present tentacle arm to beckon Roman over. He was inviting the side to eat with them. Deep down Roman wanted to accept the invitation. Deep down he wanted to join his brother, to just enjoy a meal with him, to be given the chance to get to know the person he had become. Deep down he really did want to be brothers again.

But he also knew that he was supposed to be the good twin. And he knew that if he got up to eat with the evil dark sides he would be judged for it. He would be judged for choosing them over his family, and even though he knew Patton could never hate him, he also saw the disdain the father figure had for the dark sides.

So Roman did the right thing and ignored the invitation. He ate breakfast with his family. He did what he was supposed to. Nevermind the hurt look on his brothers face.

He was good and Remus was evil and that was that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter fiiive!!! I don’t know how I feel about this one, and I’m posting this in my first period class so there’s tHaT.
> 
> Also! My zucchini wrote a fic that you should all go read! It’s an AtLA fic about Zuko and it’s really good! She doesn’t have an ao3 account, so I posted it on my account, it’s called The Mark of the Banished Prince! XD


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as he finished his breakfast Roman was off to his room, claiming he had work to do. An obvious lie. He was avoiding them.

Remus was fine with that. Roman had never liked him, it was dumb of him to think that would change just because they lived in closer proximity than they had before.

It was fine.

Yeah.

Patton stayed in the kitchen to wash the dishes, sending some thinly veiled animosity towards the dark sides about the amount of dishes being more than usual. Deceit had offered to help Patton, but the moral side insisted that could manage them on his own. Deceit, being the self-proclaimed master manipulator, could see the manipulation for what it was.

So that left Logic, Deceit, Virgil, and Remus in the common room.

It really wasn't much different than the one in the dark side, and the overall layout was the same; almost identical to Thomas’ living room. There were small differences though, mostly dependent on the sides who lived there, little bits of their personalities showing through the decorations and little knick knacks.

The walls were soft pastel colors with framed pictures of the resident sides looking happy all around. Fluffy, pastel pillows and plushies were also scattered on the couch, and the coffee table was covered in books and drawings. The close bond between the light sides was painfully clear. 

Despite the fact that this was supposed to be their ‘home’ too, it felt like they were intruding. This only solidified the feeling that the dark sides were unwelcome here. 

As Remus flopped onto the couch Virgil handed him his mug of hot chocolate, now half full and in need of another refill. “You forgot this in the kitchen.”

“Oh! Thanks Anx!” Remus gratefully took the mug and took a huge sip, trying to drag his mind away from his brother. No need to worry over something he couldn’t change.

Virgil was concerned, he recognised that Remus was worrying about something. Remus worrying made Virgil worry, and both of them made Deceit worry, and then they would all be preoccupied and not doing their jobs and then they wouldn’t be helping Thomas and-

Virgil decided to ignore it for now, and he let out a quiet chuckle at the new nickname from Remus and plopped on the couch next to his friend. Deceit followed soon after and finally, Logic sat near the deceitful side. He seemed to be the only light side who at least tolerated them aside from Roman, but that was complicated.

Remus finished up the remainder of his drink and turned to the snake faced side, who had since gotten out a book that he was fully focused on reading.

“DeeDee.”

“Hey, Dee.”

“Snakey.”

Remus poked his face, trying to get him to pay attention to him.

“Double Dee. 

“Deeeeeee-”

Deceit dramatically snapped his book shut and turned to Remus.

“Double Dee? Really?”

“You and Anxiety are keeping your names a secret, so now I need to come up with all new nicknames for both of you!”

“And you went with ‘Double Dee’”

“I can come up with a better one if you want.” Remus was wiggling his eyebrows and Deceit could already guess where this was going.

“What about Double Di-

“No!”

“You cannot stop me, I cannot be stopped! My nicknaming powers are too strong!” Remus grinned evilly at Deceit and cackled, then realised that he had lost sight of his original goal, and continued, “AnyWAY, I need you to refill my hot chocolate.”

“Sorry, Ree, that’s all I made. If you want more you’ll have to go make it yourself.”

“Nooo.” Remus whined.

“Yes.”

“Nooooooo-”

“I could make him another cup.” Logan spoke up.

“It’s really not a problem, Logic, that was his fifth cup this morning anyway. Besides he knows how to make hot chocolate, he just doesn’t want to do it himself.” Remus shrugged, not denying the accusation but also not making a move to get up

“It’s really not a problem. Here.” And as Logan said that, he waved his hand in the general direction of the cup, willing it to be full again. And then it was. “See, as I said, simple.”

The three other sides just stared at the cup in shock. 

“What? Did I do something wrong?” Logan was starting to worry he had offended them in some way. Maybe they had some hot chocolate tradition he was unaware of?

“No, you didn’t- it’s just… we aren’t used to just being able to just conjure things so… easily.”

“Yes, as Anxiety said, in the dark side summoning things sapps a lot of energy, I suppose we grew accustomed to avoiding doing so whenever possible.” Deceit continued.

That explained some things, but also created so many more questions for Logan. Why did the two parts of the mind behave so differently? Did other parts of the mind behave differently too? He had never spent much time in that part of the mind, but these new realizations made him want to research and document all his findings. 

He used to think he already knew all there was to know about Thomas’ mind and how it worked. Clearly he was wrong and still had more to learn.

“NOW I AM TRULY UNSTOPPABLE!!!”

“Remus Creativity Sanders! Get down from there right now!”

Logan looked up to see Remus, holding what had to be at least fifteen mugs full of hot chocolate, some knives, and a severed hand, while standing on the back of the couch and yelling. Deceit and Anxiety appeared to be trying to get him to come down from the precarious position before he dropped everything and caused a huge mess.

“MWAHAHAHAHAH!!!”

“Remus, no!” Anxiety was fake-scowling as he yelled at the other side, deep down he was glad Remus was distracted from whatever had been bothering him before.

“REMUS YES!”

But at the same time, he didn’t want him to fall and get hurt.

Logan decided it couldn’t hurt to participate in the foolishness, if only for a minute, so he piped up with, “Remus no.”

“Remus maybe?” The creative side seemed confused, but not at all bothered by the remark from Logic, as he jumped and landed sitting with his legs crossed, still on the back of the couch.

Deceit glanced up at him, “Remus. No.”

“Fiiine. Remus no.” Remus’ entire form encapsulated the emotion of :( as he attempted to climb off his perch without dropping anything.

It was that moment that Patton joined them in the living room, and he paused for a moment as soon as he walked in, processing the scene of Remus attempting to climb off the back of the couch while holding mugs, knives, and what he hoped wasn’t a severed hand.

Miraculously, though, Remus didn’t drop anything, so Patton just sighed, bothered to look a little disappointed, and moved to sit at the end of the couch next to Logan as he turned on the TV to find something to watch.

And for a while, they sat in a sort-of-peaceful-but-mostly-tense silence. Logan and Deceit were reading books about astronomy and psychology, respectively, Virgil was scrolling through tumblr on his phone, Patton was watching The Office on the TV, and Remus was drawing in his sketchbook. It was far from a pleasant experience, but no one was arguing, so that could be taken as progress.

Eventually, Roman peaked his head in and quickly announced that he was going on a quest in the imagination, so if any of them needed him, he would be there. And he was gone before anyone had the chance to respond. 

No one seemed bothered by the announcement, Remus looked at where his brother had just been standing, and after a moment of uncharacteristic hesitation, Remus dropped his sketchbook on the couch and followed after Roman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long to come out, school Happened and I lost motivation for a while :/
> 
> Also, I’m not super happy with how this chapter turned out, but I’m excited for what I have planned for the next one! (so hopefully the wait won’t be as long as this time) Thanks for reading! :D


End file.
